Cable lighting systems are known in which lighting fixtures are attached between flexible parallel electrodes that are maintained straight through tension. Some systems are difficult to install and require turnbuckles and other relatively expensive elements and tools to make mechanical and electrical attachments. Positioning and routing of the electrodes through a space or along a surface in anything but a straight path can be difficult or require special elements to change electrode direction.
Spacers to maintain uniform spacing between cable or rod electrodes that require installation from only ends of the electrodes are inconvenient to assemble onto long lengths of electrode. Pre-attached spacers may prevent insertion of the electrodes through an opening that is smaller than the electrode spacing.
Interference-fit spacers that snap onto cylindrical electrodes through relative movement along one direction are often difficult to install. The relatively small electrode diameters may also make mechanical tolerances requirements difficult to achieve for a reliable interference fit of an electrode forced into a conventional snap-fit slot feature. The forces required to overcome the snap constriction may lead to permanent deformation of the electrodes especially in installation environments that have limited clearance for snapping the electrodes into a spacer.
Track lighting systems employing some form of parallel electrodes mounted to a substrate are known. While flexible track systems are known that can bend to some extent in a direction perpendicular to the track substrate, changing direction in the plane of the electrodes (that is, along the mounting surface) may require special turning elements that restrict three-dimensional paths, make installation difficult and/or increase costs. Once installed, changing the pointing direction of light fixtures to new direction typically requires modifying the path of the track or providing lighting pucks that have mechanical elements for redirecting the emission by tilting the fixture and/or rotating the fixture or an optical element of the fixture. This pointing flexibility generally increases system size, weight, and the number of parts of the fixture which usually increases system costs and may negatively impact industrial design options.
While these cable and track lighting systems provide more flexibility than stationary lighting fixtures, they do not meet all of the needs for easily initially configuring and subsequently changing lighting in a space. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an alternate system that provides fixture mounting at different positions with different orientations along the length of a substantially linear track electrode system or at different locations on the surface of a planar electrode system for lighting or other electronic modules with greater system installation flexibility, reliability and environmental stability or that provides one or more other advantages over existing cable, track and planar systems.